An Alternate Universe
by lightingpaperlanterns
Summary: What would have happened if Lily hadn't been there to protect Harry? How would things be different? Would she be able to get through it?  Who would defeat Voldemort? Read and find out?


**"What if...?" That seems to be the ultimate question in my life at the moment. It's currently filled with things like "What if we'd never met this person?" and "What would have happened if I'd gone to a different high-school?" Things like that.**

**Sort of how this came to me: What if Lily hadn't been around to protect Harry when Voldemort came to the house? How would things be different? So, it's sort of my take on how that storyline would have panned out. I hope you enjoy it.

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"James?" Lily asked, grabbing her handbag. "I'm just popping out to the shops for a few minutes. We're out of milk."

"Okay, love," James said, helping a young Harry Potter onto his toy broomstick. "See you later then."

"Love you both!" Lily called out as she walked through the door. She locked the gate behind her, and then, laughing at all the kids in their Hallowe'en costumes, she headed towards the small grocery store at the edge of town. She wasn't there for more than a minute when there there was a sound something like a house falling down.

Thinking nothing of it, just a muggle playing a prank, she bought a bottle of milk, paid for it, and then left the shop, looking forward to spending an evening with the two boys she loved the most in the world, she smiled.

That evening would never come. When she arrived back at her house, she immediately knew that something was wrong. People were crowding around, looking at the figure emerging from the house that was now falling down. Lily pushed to the front of the crowd, and saw a face that made her heart drop into her stomach. A pale face with snake-like eyes smiled triumphantly as he saw Lily Potter turn pale herself.

A high-pitched laugh came from him, and he looked down at her.

"I will spare your life, you pathetic mudblood," he said, then disapparated before the crowd.

Terrified, Lily ran into the house and saw something that made her feel empty. Her beloved James and Harry were lying lifeless on the floor, unmoving, their cold eyes staring. She knew she could do nothing, the Killing Curse had no remedy. All she could do was sit there. She picked up Harry and held him close to her, and then took James' hand in her own, and let the tears stream down her face.

She didn't know how much later it was that somebody entered the house. She didn't know who it was, still in shock about the strange turn of events that the night had taken: not only had her two favourite people been killed by the most evil wizard of all time, but the same wizard had also agreed to spare her life.

Sirius Black, James' best friend, saw Lily sitting on the floor, trying desperately to hold on to the life she'd had only half an hour before. The milk bottle that Lily had bought was now a puddle on the floor, dropped when she had entered the room. Silently, Sirius stepped over it, and put his arms around Lily until she fell asleep, when he sent a patronus message to Albus Dumbledore.

Lily woke up in a strange bed, without James beside her, or Harry in a cot across the room. Panicking, she sat bolt upright in bed, looking around for them. She jumped when she saw who was sitting in the chair beside the bed.

"Woah, Lily, calm down," Sirius said. "It's okay."

"Where am I? Where're James and Harry?"

Sirius blinked, sighed, and hugged her. "Do you remember what happened last night?" he asked her.

"I remember going out to get milk," she replied, confused. "And then, nothing."

"I'm not sure what exactly happened, but James and Harry were murdered, by Lord Voldemort," Sirius told her, tears escaping from his eyes. "Somebody said that Voldemort spoke to you? Personally?"

Lily closed her eyes. "It's not true," she said, desperately. "They can't be dead, they can't be."

"Dumbledore told you this might happen," Sirius said. "He told you that Voldemort would come after you."

"It was Pettigrew, wasn't it? That told him where we were? We changed secret keeper's so that this wouldn't happen! And it was him all along!"

"I thought it was the right choice too, Lily," Sirius said. "I'm to blame."

"No, I am," Lily said. "If I hadn't gone out to get milk, it wouldn't have happened! Sirius, they're gone, and it's all my fault."

"No, it's not," Sirius said, stroking her hair. "Don't you ever think that, okay? Now, I need to know. Did Voldemort speak to you as he left?"

Lily tried to remember what happened, scrunching up her eyes as if she expected it to help. "He said to me 'I'll spare your life, you pathetic mudblood'."

Sirius stared at her, unbelievingly. "He said that?" he asked, placing the back of his hand on her forehead, seeing if she had a fever. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Lily nodded. "I don't think I was hallucinating."

"That doesn't sound like him at all," Sirius said, staring out the window.

"Where am I?" Lily asked him again, wiping tears from her eyes.

"You're at my house," Sirius said. "You probably don't recognise it, this being where I sleep and such, but I needed to get you out of there."

"Why?"

"Because the house was falling down," Sirius said, laughing bitterly. Lily noticed the desperation to find something to laugh at, and so didn't say anything more.

Less than a week later, immediately after the funeral, Sirius noticed Lily's need to be alone, and left her at the gravesite, staying a safe distance away so that if he noticed anything suspicious, he could be there in a flash. It was only for Lily's sake that he was still around: if not, he would have found Pettigrew long ago and disposed of him. He still had a mind to do it, having torn not only one but two families apart with his foolish actions, but Lily needed him.

Alice Longbottom was at the gate to the church graveyard, with her husband Frank and their son Neville. He was a day older than Harry, they'd been good playmates. She looked over to Lily's lone form in the snow, handed her child over to Frank, and headed off to her best friend. Frank grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Where are you going?" Frank asked, confused.

"Frank," Alice sighed, "all Lily need right now is a shoulder to cry on. And don't say Sirius, because I'm talking about a girl's shoulder. A shoulder of somebody that would hate to be in her situation, and who very well might have been. You and Neville go on home. I'll come back later."

From his place in the trees, Sirius smiled. Alice Longbottom was perhaps one of the wisest people he'd ever met, and certainly the best at reading Lily's emotions. He turned himself into his animagus form – a big shaggy black dog – for the first time since Halloween, and watched as Alice put her hand on Lily's shoulder.

Lily fell onto her friend's shoulder, the tears flowing freely.

"It's so hard, Alice," she sobbed, as Alice patted her on the back. "I went out to get _milk_, and when I came back they were dead! It would have been so different if I'd been there, or if they'd come with me! Now they're gone, and it's all my fault."

"Don't be ridiculous, Lily," Alice said, sitting them down on the snow. "Now, as much as it sucks sometimes, everything happens for a reason, okay? You just have to realise that James and Harry dying is going to make you a better person. There's a reason you're still alive, and instead of beating yourself up about it, maybe you should figure out what it is."

That didn't make Lily feel any better. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do without them. I lived for them. And now that they're not here anymore... I don't have a purpose in life."

"I think you do, Lily," Alice said. "Keep living for them. Make them proud."

"They won't know if I do or not."

"Don't be so narrow-minded. I believe that even if people don't come back as ghosts, they're still able to watch over us."

Alice was surprised when Lily smiled the tiniest little bit. "It's like I'm living in an alternate universe, Alice. Like this isn't how it's supposed to be written. Like I wasn't supposed to live."

"Well," Alice smirked. "Nothing can change that now, can it?"

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**So... what do you think? Should I continue it, or abandon all hope? Any suggestions? All your opinions can be passed onto me via reviewing. I take all comments into account, so don't be afraid to say something!**

**And Lily hit the nail right on the head, didn't she? Also, I said up the top that the story was inspired by the question 'what if?', but I coupled it with the idea I had for another story, which was a mother losing her young child (which was inspired by the song 'My Immortal' by Evanescence.) and about her trying to cope with that. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and hopefully I'll see you with the next chapter.**

**Happy reading,**

**gabiellexx  
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